The Big Cube (1969)

Director:

Tito Davison

Writers:

William Douglas Lansford (screenplay)
Tito Davison (story) ...

Release Date:

30 April 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller | Drama

Tagline:

Poor daddy. Bibi was just shedding her inhibitions. So he threw the gang out. He never should have done it. Never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never.

Plot:

A former actress clashes with her wealthy and spoiled stepdaughter over their inheritance after the death of their protector.

Plot Keywords:

Actress | Hospital | Playwright | Accident | Stepdaughter

Cast

Lana Turner	...	Adriana Roman
George Chakiris	...	Johnny Allen
Richard Egan	...	Frederick Lansdale
Dan O'Herlihy	...	Charles Winthrop (as Daniel O'Herlihy)
Karin Mossberg	...	Lisa Winthrop
Pamela Rodgers	...	Bibi
Carlos East	...	Lalo
Augusto Benedico	...	Dr. Lorenz
Víctor Junco	...	Delacroix (as Victor Junco)
Norma Herrera	...	Stella
Pedro Galván	...	University Dean (as Pedro Galvan)
Regina Torné	...	Queen Bee (as Regina Torne)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Javier Batiz
Carolina Cortázar
Rogelio Guerra
José Roberto Hill
Alma Muriel
Penelope
Carlos Riquelme
Sergio Virel

Also Known As:

El Terrón de azúcar (Mexico)

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA | Mexico

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:M (original rating) | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico

Company:

Francisco Diez Barroso

Quotes:

Johnny Allen: [Putting his arm around her] Do you know you really turn me on?
Girl sketching model: [Disinterested] Since when?
Johnny Allen: Since now. I belong to 'The Now Generation.'

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Die, Mommie, Die! (2003)

Soundtrack:

Lean on Me

This Is Not Your Classic Lana Turner!

Being a Lana Turner fan, and having seen most of her films, "The Big Cube" had always been amazingly allusive. It's not an easy movie to find, but once I got my hands on it, I was like a little kid at Christmas. I had read reviews on it and seen the disdain for this film over and over again, but I wasn't as horrified by it as most reviewers had me expecting to be. And, strangely enough, that was both a disappointment and a relief.

Lana plays a supposedly great stage actress (though you wouldn't know it based on the horrendous play the film opens with) who retires to marry a wealthy man whose witchy teenage daughter resents Lana's intrusion into their lives. This diva daughter, meanwhile, begins to date a sleazy drug pusher whom neither her father nor Lana approve of. The daughter (played oddly enough with an Eastern European accent of some sort) teams up with her boyfriend to drive poor Lana mad by lacing her medication with LSD.

"The Big Cube" is not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination. Many of the lines and scenes are laughably bad. Lana's LSD-induced hallucination scenes are beyond campy. And seeing Lana in the same film with bare breasts and naked rear-ends is a little disconcerting. But the film will suck you in and have you hooked - much like LSD itself. And in an oddly appealing way, there is a dash of awkwardness thrown in when you see how seriously Turner takes herself in this film. For a woman who was on the verge of 50, she still acted like a young vixen in her 20's.

This vehicle is one of pure exhibitionism. Truly only for Lana fans or those who like trippy '60s flicks. But I have honestly seen much worse. "Valley of the Dolls" is from the same era and in the same vein, but much more ridiculous and tedium inducing. "The Big Cube", strangely enough, resembles a drugged-out version of Turner's 1959 hit "Imitation of Life". Between Lana's successful stage actress character and the conflict she experiences with her step-daughter, plus the on screen reunion with Dan O'Herlihy (who plays her husband here), the similarities are striking enough for me to imagine that the director of this bizarre film must have been a fan of Lana's older melodramas. Having said that, "The Big Cube" is also about as far away from "Imitation of Life" or "Peyton Place" as one can get.